Hi guys.
I have a question and I cannot find the answer for the life of me (yes I've googled and searched and wiki'd).
I have to write a simple text file to a users desktop. Thats no problem but I'm stuck on how to make it write to whatever user is currently running the programs desktop.
Say I have this for example:
output.open("C:\\Documents and Settings\\John\\Desktop\\textFile.txt");
What can I put in place of "John" to have the path relative to the current user who is logged in? I've tried all kinds of stuff but I can't get it to work correctly.
For example, if Mary logs in then the textFile.txt will write to her desktop.
Does anyone know how to make this work? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I know what I'm looking for, I just can't find it :/ Its like how on *ix systems you have a ~Desktop or something like that to show a relative file path. I know windows has ..\Desktop but I just can't get it to work in my code : /
EDIT: Sorry I forgot to mention this is C++ and its a console application.
[Edited by - Chrono1081 on July 13, 2010 3:16:01 AM]
Stupidly stuck on writing to a file :(
well...
SHGetKnownFolderPath with FOLDERID_Desktop seems like it should get you the directory you are looking for.
SHGetKnownFolderPath with FOLDERID_Desktop seems like it should get you the directory you are looking for.
Author
Thank you for the suggestion :)
I'm sorry I forgot to write that it was in C++ console not MFC. Is there any way to get this to work with just C++ console? I'm not familiar with MFC :(
I'm sorry I forgot to write that it was in C++ console not MFC. Is there any way to get this to work with just C++ console? I'm not familiar with MFC :(
You don't need MFC to use that function, it's a standard Win API function. (although the function KulSeran mentioned is for Vista and higher).
This works:
This works:
#include <iostream>#include "Shlobj.h"using namespace std;int main(int argc, char* argv[]) { LPTSTR value = new TCHAR[MAX_PATH]; HRESULT result = SHGetFolderPath(NULL, CSIDL_DESKTOP, NULL, SHGFP_TYPE_CURRENT, value); if (result == S_FALSE || result == E_FAIL) { cout << "failed"; } else if (result == E_INVALIDARG) { cout << "invalid arg"; } else { cout << value; }}/*Compiled with: "cl desktop.cpp /link Shell32.lib User32.lib"*/
That is a Windows API function and has nothing to do with the MFC.
There is no "true" c++ way to query the current user because it has not been designed in a way that would make this possible.
To get the current user you will either need to use the API from the operating system or use a higher level API that enables that functionality on multiple platforms.
There is no "true" c++ way to query the current user because it has not been designed in a way that would make this possible.
To get the current user you will either need to use the API from the operating system or use a higher level API that enables that functionality on multiple platforms.
Author
Thank you all so much for the help :) I'm still confused however :( I'm not sure how to convert the contents of result to a string that I can use as a file path.
Here is the code I have:
Sorry for my ignorance, I'm really unfamiliar with Windows programming. I usually program in Objective-C + Cocoa.
I looked for an HRESULT to string converter code snippet but everything I found appears to be Direct X related : /
Here is the code I have:
#include <iostream>#include <fstream>#include <string>#include "Shlobj.h"using namespace std;int main(int argc, char* argv[]){ LPTSTR value = new TCHAR[MAX_PATH]; HRESULT result = SHGetFolderPath(NULL, CSIDL_DESKTOP, NULL, SHGFP_TYPE_CURRENT, value); if(result == S_FALSE || result == E_FAIL) { cout << "failed" << endl; } else if(result == E_INVALIDARG) { cout << "invalid arg"; } else { ofstream outFile; outFile.open(//Not sure how to get result into a string to put here); for(int i = 0; i < 21; ++i) { outFile << "Labeled and archived tape "<< i <<" for server." << endl; outFile << "Loaded new tape in slot " << i << " for server." << endl; } outFile.close(); } return 0;}Sorry for my ignorance, I'm really unfamiliar with Windows programming. I usually program in Objective-C + Cocoa.
I looked for an HRESULT to string converter code snippet but everything I found appears to be Direct X related : /
HRESULT is meant to tell you if a Windows API call was executed successfully or not. You should use the FAILED macro to check if everything is okay.
Now concerning getting the actual path:
When you look at the documentation of SHGetFolderPath, it says that the function copies the string describing the path into pszPath. Your value variable should already contain the path, although you might want to change your code a bit:
I hope this helps :)
Now concerning getting the actual path:
When you look at the documentation of SHGetFolderPath, it says that the function copies the string describing the path into pszPath. Your value variable should already contain the path, although you might want to change your code a bit:
TCHAR value[MAX_PATH];HRESULT result = SHGetFolderPath(NULL, CSIDL_DESKTOP, NULL, SHGFP_TYPE_CURRENT, &value[0]);if(FAILED(result)){ cout << "failed" << endl;}else{ ofstream outFile; outFile.open(value); ...I hope this helps :)
Quote:Original post by Chrono1081
I'm still confused however :( I'm not sure how to convert the contents of result to a string that I can use as a file path.
Did you try the code i gave you? It prints the variable value to cout (the console), where value is defined as a C-style string.
If you want the value as a std::string you will have to convert it. So then you can append your file name to the end: pathToDesktop + '\\' + fileName.
Or you could just use the C string function strcat to append the file name.
Author
I tried the code you provided but I only get a memory address.
I also tried the code that SiS-Shadowman provided and I only get a memory address as well : / I can't figure out what is going wrong :(
I also tried the code that SiS-Shadowman provided and I only get a memory address as well : / I can't figure out what is going wrong :(
This code works for me. Compiled with Code::Blocks. Tell me if it solves your problem.
The string with the path to the desktop is value, not result. You will have to add the name of the file you want to write in to value and you're done.
As XTAL256 said, it would be wiser and easier if you stored the path to the desktop in a std::string.
#include <iostream>#include "Shlobj.h"using namespace std;const int SHGFP_TYPE_CURRENT = 0;int main(int argc, char* argv[]){ LPTSTR value = new TCHAR[MAX_PATH]; HRESULT result = SHGetFolderPath(NULL, CSIDL_DESKTOP, NULL, SHGFP_TYPE_CURRENT, value); if (result == S_FALSE || result == E_FAIL) cout << "failed"; else cout << value; delete [] value;}The string with the path to the desktop is value, not result. You will have to add the name of the file you want to write in to value and you're done.
As XTAL256 said, it would be wiser and easier if you stored the path to the desktop in a std::string.
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